Human beings are wired to view change as dangerous. Poke your head out of the cave and get eaten by a saber-tooth tiger. It’s better to stand pat. Not all change is good and can, in fact, be dangerous. However, never changing leaves you starting in the cave.
Whether we like it or not, we are only inclined to change when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change. Shoot, there are songs about it (e.g., Beyonce’s “Better Put a Ring on It).
It’s easy to convince ourselves that the status quo isn’t that bad. We all know the analogy of boiling the frog. Human beings will eventually jump out of the hot water, but we’ve all seen people stay in near-boiling water when we would’ve jumped out a long time ago. It’s hard to know how hot the water is when you’re the one in it.
In the world of sales, the most successful salespeople don’t let the water get very hot. They have a bias for change in the early stages of dissatisfaction versus continuing to tolerate undesirable results.
Ask yourself, what areas are you tolerating results lower than you deserve? Are you tolerating less than your best self?
Accountability can be a great tool to help drive change. Whether it’s improved personal habits or behavior, working smarter, developing more discipline, or just achieving a goal, accountability can be the missing piece for many.
If you’re curious whether accountability could be your missing piece, take our five-minute quiz.